I thought this idea deserves it's own thread. Here is a clip from an essay to start the topic going:
Studies show that most Mexican migrants have similar aspirations. If they could come and go freely, most would move only temporarily. But perversely, U.S. border controls end up making many stay for good, because crossing the border is so risky and costly that once a person has got across he tends to stay. A Mexican who overstays his visa knows that if he returns home, he will never be able to reenter the United States legally.
Open Borders Work, Part 2
No nation on earth can expect to be able to absorb millions and millions of UNSKILLED workers into their country every year without experiencing very real consequences. Research has shown that just an increase of 10% of unskilled immigrants into a local job market -increases unemployment among the unskilled US workers in that area by 2%. And because it results in a downward pressure on wages for unskilled labor overall, it increases the inequality of wages between skilled and unskilled US workers. The very segment of our own population that suffers the highest unemployment rates even during the best economic times -gets hit the hardest during tough economic times. Now that there is every reason to believe we are entering a significant recession, this is the segment of our OWN population that is going to feel the most pain.
Part of our problem is that we have very, very generous benefits to immigrants once they do enter this country that work as incentives to remain indefinitely -whether they entered legally or not -not the least of which are public education and medical care. Both of which are posing an increasingly unmanageable financial burden in areas with high populations of illegals. The fiscal burden on state and local governments is very real and for those with the largest populations of illegals, getting only more difficult to absorb every year. With a recession, unemployment rates will continue to rise -with state and local government revenues less as a result -and even less able to absorb those fiscal burdens posed by large populations of unskilled illegals. The huge influx of illegals from Mexico -who are unskilled workers -has meant we had to cut back on the numbers who wanted to enter legally from all other nations, allowing only highly skilled workers. No exceptions. So the poorest in other countries -with stories no less heartwrenching - don't have a chance at all of legally entering this country and are paying the penalty because they are already so over-represented by illegals. Illegals now account for roughly half of all immigration to this country and their lack of skills disproportionately over-represented among all immigrants, legal or not.
My biggest concern is that I have a real problem with the idea of rewarding Mexico for the problems their own government has created for these people with a change of US policy that would allow any and all unskilled Mexicans to freely enter into this country without limitations on numbers - and get a job. Especially since this is a problem created and fostered by the corrupt Mexican government.
Illegal Mexicans are nearly entirely of native Indian heritage -and victims of the vicious, bigoted, prejudicial policies of Mexican government that is controlled and ruled by Spanish-heritage Mexicans -with their official and unofficial policies that insure the best jobs in all industries and most politically influential jobs will only be filled by Spanish heritage Mexicans. (There is a reason the Mexican President -regardless of his name -never looks like the Mexicans who enter this country. He is always of Spanish descent, not native Indian.) The corrupt Mexican government actively insures this segment is the poorest and most desperate, then actively encourages this same segment of their own population to get out of the country - and then does it all it can to aid them in entering our country illegally. Their oppressive policies are intended to harm this segment of their own population and insure they have the most difficult time finding any employment in their own country. And then encourages them to just get out. They don't want those citizens to EVER return, they are considered "undesirable" people -but very much want to see them continue to send a chunk of their earnings back to their country since that money represents a huge chunk of their economy. Local Mexican governments routinely bilk these people on their way into our country, play a significant role in human trafficking with officials intent on nothing more than getting their share by exploiting their most desperate and poorest citizens -after already enforcing the policies that insured they would be desperate and poor in the first place.
Why should our economy try to absorb the financial burden of a situation that has actually been created and fostered by the corrupt government in Mexico -relieving it of any pressure to reform? With an open door policy whereby the US assumes responsibility for their poorest and most unskilled citizens they created in the first place -we only encourage the Mexican government to continue with its racial oppression of a segment of their own population, rewarding them for driving out their own citizens while continuing to benefit by their work in THIS country -all so they can continue to hold the reins of power and operate government with policies intended to benefit the Spanish-heritage Mexicans the most.
I don't blame desperate and poor people from trying to improve their circumstances by searching for work in a more promising country. In their shoes, I would probably do the same thing. But I have a real problem with these one-sided conversations that totally ignore the fact that the corrupt Mexican government created this problem in the first place with policies of oppression born of racial hatred. Editorials and political speeches that totally ignore this while expounding about how the best solution is to cooperate more fully with the corrupt Mexican government in its oppression of their own citizens and their policies intended to insure that Mexico is ruled for and by those of Spanish-heritage only -by making it even easier for the Mexican government to rid the country of people it deems "undesirable", will only relieve what little pressure has been applied to this government to reform. And that little pressure hasn't accomplished much anyway.
These kind of one-sided discussions that totally ignore the root cause of this problem in the first place presents a true win-win situation for the Mexican government. They rid the country of "undesirables", are encouraged to step it up even more - while gladly allowing the money they send back to support their economy. And absolutely no one making a peep about their vicious, bigoted policies! But this population is truly being actively dispossessed and disowned by their government and literally driven out of their country -while the ignorant in this country appear to be applauding it by insisting we must reward Mexico for it by opening our doors even wider.
